Fan Dance VS Closed Position

Would you want to go completely one way or the other or share merits?

Fan dance is amazing, no question, takes a move that would otherwise kill you, and makes it barely scratch you. and lower timer, means you can have it at full power more

I've not used it at all so I was not sure how effective it is.

i did 1 saber dance, 1 fan dance, 5 nfr, 3 closed position

never really had a problem with taking enough damage to make fan dance worth meriting more, with dnc evasion and and mdt at least

I have

1/5 Fandance
1/5 Saberdance
3/5 Nofootrise
5/5 Closed position



I can't tell you the last time I've been in Fandance (Dont get me wrong it can be amazing); I usually just fulltime saberdance and haste sambas.

Closed Position is really nice ;D

of course, you have to be a strict tank :P my DNC is a tank, so fan dance rocks abyss mobs, for when your shadows go down and it hits that 5k TP move, and it only does 50 damage. Closed iis obviously good for extra evasion, allows yout o slack slightly on other gear, for better damage output for hate holding?

I have my Fandance fully merited and it's funny how I barely get touched pulling mobs for burns/cleaves etc as to some thf's I have seen barely reach camp alive.

It's rare that additional Fan Dance merits will save you. Anything where you actually need that much PDT on a regular basis may well kill you before the recast is up regardless of merits. Further, there are many situations where you won't even use it in favor of keeping Haste Samba up. On the other hand, additional merits would be somewhat useful if it's being infrequently dispelled.

Closed Position isn't hugely beneficial either - you can get enough eva for pretty much anything without it and there are many times where it does next to nothing. On the other hand, when it is applicable you can at the very least trade on that evasion to equip non-evasion gear, be it DD gear, Subtle Blow, or even PDT.

They're both good choices, just not overwhelmingly so (though at least one merit in Fan Dance is obviously advisable).

EDIT: 5 Saber 2 NFR 2 CP 1 Fan here

I did 5/5 Fan Dance 3/5 Saber and 2/5 Closed.

With Abyssea/Gear/Reverse Floruish there's already quite a bit of TP overflow, so I felt that NFR would be pretty useless to me. For the few enemies that need it, 5/5 Fan Dance can be a godsend. I put 3 in Saber because I also like to DD and I often ride Saber's recast. I felt that 6 EVA (and 6 ACC under situations where acc isn't capped) was more useful than NFR.

But ultimately DNC merits are really just up to your own personal playstyle.

This, have at least 1 in Fan Dance so you have an insane emergency button if ***hits the fan. ...unintended pun.

Closed position allows you to have the ability to trade evasion gear for DD gear to end the fight quicker.

i'm 5/5 closed position 1/5 fan/saber and 3/3 nfr. i hardly ever use fan dance or saber dance anymore. i like my 2-4x dagger and saber dance gimps it. everyone touched on the awesomeness of the eva without having to use eva gear, but the acc is pretty nice too.

Man I thought i was the only one who did 2 NFR. Its always "no joo must have 5 or you will suck."

Nah, I did 2 as well. With Presto, getting 5 Finishing Moves is easier than ever. By no means is it completely necessary to have 5/5 NFR unless you're doing a lot of BCNMs on DNC, or something.

For the record, I did:
1/5 Saber Dance
4/5 Fan Dance
2/5 No Foot Rise
3/5 Closed Position

I felt like I needed the extra Acc/Evasion and the last point in Fan Dance wasn't crucial enough to get. I might move one from Closed to Fan someday though.

Average hits/round for OA4 magians is ~1.9, so that is not true.

EDIT: Just saw a post on BG that puts it at 1.75/round.
Yeah, with Presto -> Step pretty much guaranteeing you 3 FM per RF cycle I just don't see much point in 5/5 NFR now.

The most comprehensive DNC Guide out there

I refer you to this OP~

this.

i have saber,fan dance and closed position,no foot rise is at 0
because i just dont like the ability.
Edit:i used to use no foot rise but begun to realise in my setup it was not needed so removed and added the merits to other stuff

I did 3 FD, 2 NFR, 5 CP

The answer is to share merits. Closed Position is generally where people dump their merits after they're satisfied with the rest of the options.

I'm 5 Saber, 1 Fan, 3 Closed, 2 No Foot Rise.

I swear at least a quarter of the posts in this forum are about Tier 2 merit point choices.

I know I'm gimping my DNC's damage output, but I've never felt comfortable with Saber Dance up. I swear it drops my evasion by 100+, and I get antsy when I don't see cures/status cures coming my way within a second or so of taking big damage, getting silenced/paralyzed, etc.

In fact, I don't like either stance. I feel too vulnerable with Saber Dance up, and I really miss Haste Samba whenever I use Fan Dance.

I know my merits are not optimal by any means, but I like:

1/5 Saber Dance
1/5 Fan Dance
4/5 No Foot Rise
4/5 Closed Position

I don't use Saber Dance or Fan Dance enough to justify more than 1 merit, so I dumped the extras into Closed Position. It's basically another tier of the Evasion Bonus Job Trait. As for No Foot Rise, I make use of it when I start fights without TP or FMs. It's useful for immediately applying Haste Samba and a Presto Step. From there, I have Haste Samba up and FMs to either reverse into TP in ~20 seconds or save for flourishes (if I need them).

After a lot of swapping I've settled with 1 Fan, 4 Saber, 5 NFR.

When solo or with people that don't require healing I tend to full time Saber on non-nm mobs (and until I really need to drop it on NMs). The lowered recast allows me to drop Saber for a cure and instantly put it back up. If healing isn't required at all, it's still nice to refresh saber asap since it loses potency over time. This is less important if you are always stuck in the healer role.

5/5 NFR is an instant 100tp before a fight or if you need to back off of an nm for whatever reason. It's mostly useless for nonstop fighting unless you miss a step so I'd advise 2/5 if that's all you do.

I don't miss losing CP merits (swapped 3 to saber). My hybrid set has actually lost evasion since I can reapply Saber sooner.